Saint Joseph Catholic Church

President Lee made his remarks at the Papal Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls in Rome on June 14, at the conclusion of a Mass celebrated by Cardinal Lazzaro You Heung-sik, the Korean prefect of the Dicastery for the Clergy.

The president, a Protestant, also praised the Catholic Church in Korea. He said that the Church there “has always firmly supported the Korean people, respecting human dignity and promoting peace and solidarity in all the trials our society has faced.”

At the conclusion of his June 14 Angelus address, Pope Leo XIV expressed gratitude for his apostolic journey to Spain and closeness to victims of the Mindanao earthquake.

Cardinal João Braz de Aviz, prefect emeritus of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, presided at the Mass of beatification, which took place at the Parish of Our Lady of the Pillar in Jauru, the small town where Father Lanciotti ministered for three decades.

“He was Marian and Eucharistic, loved hearing confessions, and practiced great penance,” said Otávio Piva, lay representative of the Marian Movement of Priests in Brazil. “Our spirituality of littleness, spiritual childhood, consecration to the Heart of Mary, and total trustful abandonment to God—these were all characteristics he embodied.”

Vatican News reported that Father Lanciotti combatted drug trafficking and prostitution. He was shot by two men who opposed his work and forgave his attackers before he died.

“The words of the Psalmist point the way forward as we prepare for the 10th World Day of the Poor,” Pope Leo began. “Once again, we must return to the Word of God to reaffirm the importance of the poor in the life of the Church. The words of the Psalm serve as a standard for Christian living because they reveal the face of God and acknowledge human poverty.”

The papal message for the day is customarily released on June 13, the memorial of St. Anthony of Padua, patron saint of the poor. The World Day of the Poor is commemorated in November (this year November 15), on the Sunday before the Solemnity of Christ the King.